Dawn
by Pulvis
Summary: An insatiable thirst for revenge against those who ruined her. A naive fairy tale hope that he could still make the world a better place. They were both delusional, but that's what made them so dangerous: they were convinced beyond any reasonable logic and sanity that they were right. A story of how Percy & Reyna's fatal flaws damned or redeemed the world, depending on who you ask.
1. Prologue - I of II

**Disclaimer: **Don't own 'nything except for my drug-induced one liners.

**i've been waiting (HEY!), think i wanna make a move:** Dark!Sarcastic!STRAIGHT!Percy, BotL divergence. Features normal and snarky teenagers who "don't talk like it's a Renaissance fair here either," quoting some guy on this site who I forgot. Bless his soul, whoever he is. Anyways, character-driven with a lot of action (I'm trying my hand at action scenes – I know some martial arts and stuff, so I know how a lot of physical fights flow), and skating the fine line between crack and serious. Honestly, it goes back and forth depending on how sober I am.

Sorry if you don't understand the American slang. Anyways, enjoy my subpar writing. =)

* * *

><p><strong>Dawn <strong>

**- Prologue: Part I of II -**

"_War does not determine who is right – only who is left."_

—_Bertrand Russell_

* * *

><p>"<em>The fall of the Fifth Age was undoubtedly the biggest revolution in the history of man, and will continue to remain so possibly until the end of time. For mortals: an event analogous to this would have been a house fly overthrowing the former British Empire.<em>

_Mortals and immortals alike broke free from the bounds of oppression – the tyranny of our own deities, our supposed creators. A council of paranoid, corrupted, and prideful bigots that couldn't even keep their own family held together, much less the entire world. _

_This fact will lead us to segue into the main idea of this text: people are simply people, gods are simply gods. But, heroes on the other hand – what is a hero, but a _God_? Do you understand?_

—Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Liberator of the Former Twelfth Legion, in _Introduction to Hyper-Contemporary Philosophy: Mortals & Immortals, Gods and gods._

* * *

><p>They were ten minutes behind schedule. I was annoyed.<p>

Who's they, Percy?

Well, I can't really say, despite the fact that most of the time it's glaringly obvious. Names have power – the very first rule taught to us as demigods was to never, _ever_ speak an immortal's name without absolute and utter reverence. And the reason why is because there's always somebody listening. The names of such powerful beings have significance, they have meaning – they're the manifestation of one's identity. Intoning such _power_ only can – and only will – attract unwanted attention to you.

We couldn't afford said attention drawn to us for obvious reasons. Therefore, we would always refer to an immortal figure by a pronoun, by a title, by a nickname – never their name. He, she, fucker, they, them… it was a relatively confusing for a bit, but we all got used to it.

It was a bit odd if you thought about it enough: the fact that gods were really only listening if you discussed them. Such petulance – kind of like those preteen girls back at Goode High.

Anyways, keeping that in mind…

_They_ were ten minutes late. I was still annoyed.

"Look for a green flash when the sun goes over the horizon. It'll be quick and if you blink, you'll miss it," Katie Gardner told me as she took a hit from the joint, completely unconcerned that nothing was going to plan. She pointed at the setting sun with her free hand.

Slowly, I sat up from my supine position on the grass, breathing in the rather unique scent of marijuana. I took in the sight of the sun setting over the ocean… except it was the _Atlantic_ Ocean. That wouldn't be a problem for, say Europeans or something, except that I was on the freaking East Coast of the United States. _The mortals must be having a field day looking at this… fucking Apollo._

"Drunk off his ass again," I muttered, indicating the sun. "How hard can travelling from east to west be? He already always uses the autopilot."

"Autopilot," Katie repeated incredulously, understanding my use of "he."

"Autopilot," I confirmed. "He even has some device thingy to prevent him from going any direction but west. Wonder how that thing stopped working – last time it broke there was a week-long eclipse."

Katie let out a very un-ladylike snort. "It takes a pretty significant level of retard to fuck up on the level he just did."

"Yeah, and here I was thinking I was the dumb one." I grinned. Katie blew white smoke in my face in reply, and then offered the jay to me.

I looked at her questioningly. "Uhh, you sure? Don't really think now's a good time—"

"Good a time as any," she interrupted with a carefree smile, offering to me again. "You need it anyways, you're really strung up right now. If you ask me why they're late one more fucking time I'm going to punch you."

_Eleven minutes late…_

_Eh, to Hades with it, why not?_

I grabbed it and took a deep drag. I held the smoke in my mouth, tasting the exotic flavor.

"Three, two, one," Katie counted down and right on cue, I began to cough up a lung. "Gods." She laughed. "You think you'd stop coughing like a fucking amateur every time after a couple months."

"Fucking A," I gasped out. _Fucking embarassing… _My throat burned like Hades. "I'll never get used to that shit."

"Stop taking such big hits if you can't handle it, genius," Katie sardonically replied, reaching out with her hand and stealing the joint back. She then frowned and glared at me. "Asshole," she muttered as it began to fall apart in her hand, "you've got a talent there if you can somehow get enough of your spit on a joint in _one hit_ to break the damn thing."

"That's like the fifth time you've done that," she continued, working herself up to pissed off. "You don't smoke with a fucking _kissy _face. Gods, it's like your only job in life is to spit on the jay until it falls apart."

_Jeez, talk about an angry high…_

"My bad," I apologized lamely, slightly stung by the sharp vitriol. I watched as she apparently decided that my damage was irreversible and extinguished the joint. She then tossed it onto the ground and grinded over it with her shoe.

When she lifted her foot off the remnants of the joint, a tiny flower could be seen sprouting in the grass. _Demeter's daughter, ahah…_

"That's feckin' _trippy_," I said eloquently, starting to feel the effects of the drug. I blinked twice rapidly and made to stand up but Katie grabbed my arm, stopping me halfway.

"Anyways, as I was saying," she continued, "the green flash is a symbol to demigods – one for conquering evil. The green is an embodiment of evil—"

"Because evil is totally always green," I interrupted. "Fucking racists." _Yup, definitely feelin' it now, woooo…_

Yeah, so I'm one-hit wonder. Sue me.

"_Listen_, Percy." Katie sighed through a grin that was threatening to break on her face. She wrenched my arm, pulling me down back to the ground in a heap. "The ray of green 'evil' flashes and then begins to expand," she continued, "but then it gets contained and _crushed_. Apparently by the setting sun and rising moon – forces of the gods."

I pondered that for a second with my drug-addled mind. Unlike Katie, who suddenly became philosophical and all _wow-what's-the-secret-of-the-universe? _whenever she was high, my brain usually just shut off. I was more inclined to stare at a wall and do nothing for two hours. This, of course led me to my eloquent response: "That's pretty fucking dumb."

"Pretty much," she agreed. "Literally it's just a demigod justification of an already-explained scientific phenomenon."

_Also implying that Apollo and Artemis could ever work together…_

I wasn't really smart enough to come up with an intelligent response to that, so I just nodded.

"So why bring it up if you think it's stupid?" I asked.

"Hard to crush evil when the moon and sun are always on different sides of the planet," Katie said sagely. _Or highly – same difference._ "Last time I checked, two objects can only crush something if they come together. Only time where this story could be true is when, well," she indicated the sun again, "_he _does stupid shit like this and sets the sun on the East."

I snorted. "Wonder who actually believes this crock of shit."

"I heard it all the time back when I was at camp," said Katie. "Guessing a lot of people do. Heh, you'd think the Cabin Six" – _Athena – _"kids would know better, being _intelligent_ and all."

"WeirdI've never heard it at camp before."

"Too busy questing, I guess," she surmised.

"Can't believe anything unless it's properly cited, nowadays…"

Katie glanced at me from her sitting position and shook her head slightly when she realized I wasn't about to offer any more than that.

I glanced down at the scythe bracelet on my wrist, twisting it in my fingers. I was getting _really _worried now.

_Fifteen minutes late… maybe the charm is broken?_

_Gods, some fucking good that weed did…_

"So annoying," she finally snapped, grabbing my hand to prevent me from further fiddling with the trinket. "You're being more uptight than Reyna, and you're high as a fucking kite. Just wait like a normal person."

_Who in Hades is Reyna…?_

"Can't help it – it's the ADHD," I tried to explain, storing the Reyna slip-up in my mind. _Not like she'd tell me if I asked, anyways…_ "I need more weed for the nerves, obviously."

"Yeah, your attention deficit half-wit disorder, maybe. If you didn't break the joint," she grumbled. She released my hand. _Wow, tight grip – _I reflexively curled my fingers to get some feeling back in my hand. "You owe me ten dollars for that, by the way."

"Wait, _what_?" I asked, utterly disbelieving.

"Yup. There was probably a gram in that joint you just ruined, an eighth is about three and a half grams and it's about forty dollars an eighth in New York, " she thought about it, doing the math, "yeah, about ten."

"You're mad about a gram when you can use your voodoo green thumb and grow an entire _pound_ in a day, and you're mad about a gram."

"Hey, you're the guy who said not to mess with a stoner's weed. And it's the principle of the thing. You already got the dickhead discount anyways, stop complaining."

My lips twitched with amusement. "Ass."

Katie didn't reply. I left her to her thoughts, leaning back and enjoying my drug-induced euphoria. _Could use some music, though…_

We sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments before the charm suddenly heated up. I sat up – they were ready.

"Don't even fucking say—"

"Fucking _finally_," I all but shouted, annoyed all over again.

Katie punched me.

* * *

><p>Footsteps approached us. Katie and I stood up and brushed the grass off our clothes; I nodded warily to the newcomer, who was already clad in full Greek battle armor. He didn't look very thrilled.<p>

"You've been wearing that all day?" Katie greeted him. "It's the middle of August."

Ethan Nakamura gave her a simple nod. He sniffed the air, frowned, looked into our eyes, and if even possible frowned even deeper.

_Heh, I guess the odor was rather distinct…_

"I'm a swimmer," I explained, seeing the unasked question form on his lips. "I spend all day in the pool, that's why my eyes are so red."

"Nice save," Ethan muttered. He tossed each of us a small bottle filled with amber liquid. "Drink it."

I brought it up to my face to scrutinize. "This better be alcohol of some sort," I stated, twisting it slowly in the soft light. "Whiskey? Beer?"

"No."

"Oh. I'm good then. Thanks, though."

I was funny, I swear.

Katie rolled her eyes at our exchange. "What is it?"

"Sobriety potion," said Ethan. "The master thought you might need it – as you already know, he does not approve of your drug habit. He commissioned one of our Hecate children to make this for you."

"Just for me, huh," she said, at a loss for words. _Well, it's not every day that you have evil, immortal deities making personal allowances for you—_

"And him," Ethan clarified, pointing at me.

—_unless you're me, of course._

"_Drink _it," he said. "We need to talk shop – w-we have a problem."

To that, he sounded a bit scared and unsure of what to do.

_Poor Ethan, in way over his head – knew it was stupid to let him take point on this._

I exchanged a glance with Katie. She shrugged, perplexed. "Well, cheers to that," I said, clinking bottles with her. I uncapped it, tilted my head back and threw the liquid into my mouth, swallowing it like a shot of vodka. It _burned _like vodka as well, searing my throat. I felt my drug-induced haze vanish like waking up from a good dream. I cleared my throat.

"There, hope you're happy," I grumbled. "Such a waste of good weed."

"Maybe you shouldn't smoke before an operation," Ethan retorted.

"Maybe everybody shouldn't be fifteen minutes behind schedule. Then we wouldn't need to smoke to pass the time."

"We're _late,_" Ethan stressed, "because we're _fucked._ Pretty sure we just lost the _Princess Andromeda –_ communications can't reach them, mortal or magical."

My good mood evaporated like water in the desert.

"Wait, _what?_" I asked impulsively. "How the fuck does that even happen?"

"Dunno," Ethan said, scratching his head. "It was as hidden to them as a large, conspicuous cruise ship could be. It was invisible, the older sea gods were protecting it from your father, it was hidden even to us – honestly, we have no idea how they could have found it."

"We think it was the blacksmith's kid, Charles Beckendork or something," Ethan continued. "Spies reported he left camp unauthorized this morning – mortal news said something about a terrorist bombing off the coast today – that must have been it. If the attack had been done with any magical means, we would have noticed. He's the only person who would have been able to track the ship as well."

I frowned, thinking. Katie didn't react visibly at all but it was obvious she was annoyed as well – probably for different reasons than mine. But the _Andromeda _had been absolutely necessary, planted right off the coast to provide another front as well as preventing their only escape by sea. This changed everything – our chances of success just took a huge blow.

"Maybe we should hold off," I started slowly.

"We can't," Ethan said immediately. "Chiron and Argus return from Olympus tomorrow. It has to be tonight."

"The cruise ship was in place to prevent some Dunkirk evacuation. If we can't them off by sea then there's no poi—"

"We could do a pincer movement," Ethan said. "Encircle them."

"That only works well if they advance on us," I pointed out. "We can't guarantee that at all."

"Oh, we can," Ethan said. "They'll do anything to protect their home and their first instinct will be to fight back, odds be damned. The issue is the monsters – even with their numbers, they'd never be able to break through their line fast enough, if at all. They'll realize what we're doing and get out before they can be fully trapped."

I nodded – that sounded about right. "How many actual men do we have? Not monsters."

"Give or take thirty demigods; that would only enough for one side of the pinch."

"Only _thirty_?" I queried, annoyed. That seemed ridiculously low. Demigods were supposed to be the actual brunt of an army – monsters were just useful for their numbers and ability to be cannon fodder.

"All of our attack plans had the _Andromeda _factored in," Ethan defended himself. "We were only supposed to be half of the invading force. We have to work with it."

"I could join the demigod unit and we cut toward the coast line. If we just got close enough, I could probably singlehandedly stop them from using the sea at all, let alone escape on it."

Katie finally interjected. "No, not an option. You're our biggest asset only as long as they don't know your allegiance. Any control over water will give you away, or at least create some semblance of doubt."

"I'm not a feckin' _spy, _Katie," I said, emphasizing the last word.

She glared at me, no doubt understanding the meaning behind my words. "No, you're not – but to them, you're aligned with them. It's simply not _worth_ it to show them your true loyalty for this attack. Don't be a dumbass."

"Jeez, just an idea," I muttered, slightly put out. _Somebody's mad about her lack of intoxication… _ "Who's being uptight now? You just said _semblance_."

"We'll do the pincer," Katie finally decided with a nod of approval towards Ethan, ignoring my comment. "Either way, by the end of tonight, we'll have neutered their ability to guard the Eastern seaboard – and Olympus – with the loss of their East Coast base of operations. It won't matter if we can't fully block an evacuation. We'll focus on the chain of command instead – after all, an army is useless without leaders. I have people who can handle that."

Now it was my turn to what she meant. _She couldn't be serious…_

"When's go time?" Katie finished, cutting me off before I could get the words out of my mouth. Her tone made it clear that she wasn't going to waste any more time arguing about it either.

"Ten minutes," Ethan said, apparently realizing this as well. "I need to go brief everybody else. Doubt you guys would listen to me if I told you to come with—" _you're damn right about that_, "—so just be ready. You know your jobs?"

"Yes."

"Then good luck," Ethan said. He offered his hand and I shook it. He did the same to Katie, who just raised an eyebrow in return, eyeing his proffered hand disdainfully. _Damn, rejected… _"I'll see you two soon," he said, face burning from embarrassment.

We watched him walk away. Once I was sure he was out of earshot, I turned to Katie. "No."

Katie didn't seem to hear me. She was staring at something behind me.

"Something's going—" Her eyes widened, and she quickly pulled me down onto the grass into a prone position. She tapped our scythe charms once, and I felt a cold shiver run through my body as the charm rendered us completely invisible.

"_Never use the invisibility charm unless it is an absolute emergency," the master had said in a caveat to all who had been rewarded with one. "it uses your life force to power the charm – five minutes maximum before you start to feel symptoms of exhaustion, within ten minutes you'll be dead. Because vanishing from the eyes of the gods themselves can never be achieved without a price."_

"Katie, what the _ fu—_"

She cut me off, shaking her head rapidly. I scratched my head tiredly and followed her gaze to look at the hill leading towards Half-Blood Hill. Thalia's tree could be seen in the distance, leaves rocking back and forth in the slight breeze. Under it laid the Golden Fleece, shimmering in all its glory. And then there was Puff – I mean Peleus, the magic dragon, hidden beneath an invisibility charm not unlike ours. And behind it was the camp – today's target.

In the pale orange sky, it all looked rather ominous.

Then I saw what got Katie so worried. A group of people could be seen walking along the border. _There haven't been any patrols larger than two people since Peleus… what in Hades is going on?_ Katie tensed next to me, slowly drawing her dagger from its sheath.

The patrol scanned the hill, allowing me to get a better look from this distance. They were dressed in silvery-gray garb, had long hair, and seemed to flicker with silver light in the soft light of the sun…

_These better not fucking be_…

As if responding to my thought, one of the figures barked an order to the others, and they spread out to man a post right along the border. A bow materialized in each of their hands, and they each looked plenty menacing.

…_Hunters._

"Well, this _is_ a problem," Katie muttered.

At least they didn't bring their freaking wolves with them.

* * *

><p>Katie and I didn't move a muscle, for good reason. Less than fifty yards away were the most dangerous pre-pubescent girls on the planet. We were pinned in place – we didn't have any ranged weapons, and they'd hear us if we moved. They were <em>that<em> good.

Twice, their roaming eyes had already passed over our hiding spot in the grass.

…_five, six, seven of them, _I counted. _Just an envoy, it seems_...

"There probably aren't any more in the camp," I whispered to Katie. "I know how Thalia operates, she likes a large show of force to discourage any attacks. So if they're patrolling with only seven hunters – which is a weird number for a patrol anyways – it means that they'll only have seven total."

That wasn't the main problem though. _The Hunter patrol is going to ruin any element of surprise tonight_, I thought to myself – it was essentially impossible to take seven of them out in one fell swoop. From next to me, I knew Katie was thinking the same thing.

"_Take the camp at all costs," the master had said. _We weren't changing anything, despite the fact that we would now lose at least twice the manpower. Hunters were _that _good. Now I was happy Ethan was in charge – I wouldn't want to take responsibility for our losses.

"That's good, I guess," she replied absently. I could hear her fiddling with her bracelet to let Ethan know about the most recent development. We'd have to move our timetable up so Katie and I didn't exhaust ourselves to death sustaining the invisibility charm – hopefully Ethan could be competent for once and be ready in five minutes. Or else the Titan's Army would have lost two of its most valuable leaders.f

"Do you think they're here for us…?" I began, fearing the worst.

"Whaddaya mean?" she asked, still observing them closely.

"Like, do they know about the attack? We should have known about the attack on the Andromeda, our spies—"

"If you say one more word, I won't hesitate to hurt you," Katie interrupted. "Very, very badly."

I bit down the witty retort forming on my lips. "What? The possibility of betrayal is pretty high," I said instead, confused.

"She didn't betray us, Percy. She's one of the most loyal people we've ever met; she would never do that to us. You're friends with her – how could you even _say _something like that?"

I raised an eyebrow at that, but then realized she couldn't even see me since we were all invisible and stuff. "One plus one is two, Katie – I know how to godsdamn add. First no intel on the _Andromeda_, now this patrol?"

She ignored my reference. "There were two captured Hunters on the _Andromeda_."

"And?"

Katie gave me an exasperated look. "Don't be dense, Percy – it doesn't suit you. Beckendorf would have extracted them. The Hunters are here for them, no doubt."

"And the fact we never learned about the attack before it happened?"

"Beckendorf's paranoid about spies. We already know the operation was unsanctioned – he didn't tell anyone except for his crew, and we don't have a Cabin Nine spy."

"We have his _girlfriend_, Katie. He would have told his girlfriend, don't you think?"

Katie laughed bitterly. "You've got some nerve saying that," she said coldly. "A girl doesn't always know what her boyfriend does. I know that, you know that – hah, you know that better than anybody, don't you?"

A pregnant pause followed. Katie couldn't see the look on my face, but she must have known it was there. "Sorry," she suddenly said, and she sounded sincere. "That was way out of line. But Percy, we know Beckendorf is the worst fucking boyfriend in the history of ever. There's a good chance he didn't tell her. He even forgot their anniversary."

"Gee, what a heinous crime," I muttered. But Katie was right. I simply couldn't throw away months of trust away based off of one setback, but _fuck, _I was pissed. But if anybody deserved the benefit of the doubt, it was her.

"Just stop seeing the worst in people, okay?" I swear I heard Katie frown. "Cynicism is pathetic."

I scoffed. "It's preparing for the worst. And we should be prepared for the worst."

"Quoting me to me… smooth."

I ignored her light jibe. I thought about what Katie had said earlier about focusing on the chain of command. The fact that I found something wrong with systematically eliminating the enemy leadership honestly scared me.

"We need to use her tonight, right? For the counselors?" I continued, ignoring the quiet whispering of my conscience. I'd come too _far_ and fought too fucking _hard_ to back away now. "What are you going to do on the off chance that she actually did betray us?"

"The unlikely off chance," I added before Katie could eviscerate me with her words.

"I may be optimistic, Percy, but I'm not stupid. I'll send somebody in with her, and they'll incapacitate the counselors all out on the escape yacht. If she betrays us, the person will just take her down with everyone else."

"And you have somebody good enough for that?" I queried. Taking out the counselors was an impressive feat, especially if _she _turned out to be a traitor – _heh, a traitor to being a traitor – _and the person had to do it alone. I could definitely do it – Katie as well, possibly, but I've never known anybody else with that sort of combat proficiency.

"Yes" was her simple response.

"Who _is _this person? Do I know him?" I asked in curiosity.

"One of our operatives in California. And s_he's_ the best there is, a girl of many talents. She'll be able to get on the yacht without arousing suspicion. And no, I don't think you know her. But she knows you – not very fond of you, either. Something to do with you ruining her life?"

"Why is it always something _I _did when it comes to the ladies…" I grumbled rhetorically. "'dya know what I did to her?"

"Never bothered asking, to be honest."

_There's a lie if I ever heard one… three minutes until my life force slowly starts to drain away… I need more weed…_

"Hmm," I said noncommittally, turning my head again to observe the Hunters.

"Wondering if Ethan can get everything ready in three minutes," Katie wondered aloud, changing the subject with extreme guile. Just kidding. "I don't fancy dying."

"Katie," I then said, my conscience finally getting the better of me. I hated being pure of heart. "What are you going to do with the counselors?"

I heard her sigh from next to me – I could tell she was expecting me to say something like this. Katie and I's moral disparity often elicited heated arguments. Her ruthless pragmatism was something that I would never be able to understand.

"Well, I'm guessing you wouldn't like it if I had them all killed," she started.

"No," I agreed.

"So I convinced the master that um, the _disposing _of any more of the demigod population than we already have just would not suffice. We'll only kill the campers if necessary – the camp is their best shot at protecting Olympus. Without it, we could probably take Olympus without killing too much immortal blood."

I breathed in relief.

"However, the counselors are a different story – we need to neuter them enough to eliminate the campers as a fighting force," Katie finished.

My breath stuck in my throat. _Shoulda let her finish…_

"Katie," I whispered frantically, "you can't just _kill_ the counselors. Please_,_ there's got to be another way."

She sighed, again having expected me to say something like this. "What would you have me do, then?"

"I don't know," I admitted quietly. "But there's always another way. Katie, these people are our _friends._"

"Only you would say something like that." She scoffed. "These people _were _our friends. We made our choice, they made theirs. And there's no going back."

"Katie—"

"Shut _up,_ Percy. Stop being such a hypocrite. You were perfectly okay with killing some nameless campers like you always have until we brought up the counselors."

"We can't afford to give them small mercies," she continued. "War is brutal, and they'd do the same thing to us if they could. Look at the _Andromeda _– there were at least fifty demigods on that ship."

"Fighting fire with fire doesn't make it right," I said quietly. _I fucking hate war…_

"Grow some balls," she said simply, not wanting to repeat the same argument we've been having for months. Then again, neither did I. "You joined us to make the world a better place, right? Well, right now it's a shithole. We're going to make it better, but we need to drag it just through a little more shit first."

She was half-joking, half-not – but as crude and nonsensical as that statement was, I couldn't help but believe it.

"Tear it down," I whispered.

"And build it up better," she finished for me.

_Well, there's a cliché saying if I ever heard one…_

"Do what you have to do, then," I finally conceded. I wouldn't be sleeping at night for a while. "Just promise me one thing."

"Name it."

"Don't kill Annabeth."

Katie sighed again. "Do you still like her, Percy?" There was no jealousy in her tone, only genuine curiosity as for why I would want to spare her. We had moved past the jealousy stage in our… relationship? Friendship? Neither of those words really described us accurately at all.

"I don't know," I replied honestly. "Probably. I… I just can't lose somebody else."

Annabeth and I had been through too much – tempered by the hottest flame, forged by the Fates and less than ideal circumstances… it was honestly hard to say what I felt for her. For anybody, really – I was really bad when it came to my emotions. The point was, I just couldn't let her die. Not after Grover. Tyson. Juniper. _So many…_

Katie heard the hitch in my voice. I thought I knew what she was thinking – _pussy._ But to my surprise, she reached over and squeezed my hand. "Okay, Percy. Okay."

There were way too many emotional vibes – way too many fucking _feels _– going through the air for my tastes.

Oh yeah, and there was a minute left before I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Death by exhaustion or death by arrow.

Fun.

* * *

><p>My bracelet heated up in anticipation, breaking up the shitty atmosphere. It was a signal for us to get ready. <em>Three.<em>

"Maybe Ethan isn't completely useless after all. Four minutes and thirty seconds."

I stood up with Katie at my side, staring at Camp Half-Blood. I couldn't see her, but I could feel her empowering presence by my side. I stored the picturesque view of the camp in my mind – it would never look like this ever again.

It heated up again, warmer this time. It burned my skin. _Two._

I uncapped my sword, comforted by the presence of the familiar object. It wasn't Riptide, but it'd have to do. Despite me not being able to see it, I could feel its soft bronze glow, shining with promise. Katie reached over and gave me a one-armed hug, and we stood unmoving.

"You want this," she said. "We're going to make the world a better place. This is the first step towards the Sixth Age."

That quashed the last bit of my conscience. I gripped my sword tighter in anticipation.

The charm heated up yet again. I definitely would need some burn ointment after this. _One._

Katie and I flipped up the hoods of our jackets, each charmed with some face-concealing magic mumbo jumbo. After all, it wouldn't do us any good to have our secret identities revealed. _Heh, superheroes._

I stopped, having just thought of something.

"Hey." I faced the air where Katie was with a grin. "Since this is like a military op type-o-deal, don't we get one of those cool operation names as well? Like Operation _Barbarossa_?"

_I'm not sure, but I think I just used Hitler as an example of something cool…_

"Well, since Ethan's in charge, technically it's his choice... but yeah man, Operation Percy's Retarded has now been commenced. Satisfied?"

"That's classified." I paused. "Damn, I've never gotten to say that before."

Katie laughed.

We hadn't bothered keeping our voices down so close to go time, so the Hunters' keen ears picked us up, even from well over a hundred feet away. Several stepped forward outside the boundary, trying to pinpoint the source of the noise. An easy ruse.

My bracelet glowed one final time, with a heat so intense that I was positive I'd have a scythe image branded into my wrist the next time I saw it. _Execute._

Arrows whistled over my head, slamming into the Hunters that had stepped over the property line. Katie squeezed me with genuine affection one last time, and then together we severed the invisibility charm.

An army – _our _army, _my _army – appeared out of nowhere and stormed the hill. I could only but smile and join them in the glorious battle.

* * *

><p><strong>no, baby show me how to love you (tell me your name…):<strong> Part I of a two part prologue, mostly dialogue (sorry, it's a setup for the second part). The prologue is basically a really _long _glimpse into the future (character development and tone for the most part, along with the endgame of the first arc) – in the end, the thing was at least five freaking _thousand_ words longer than planned (it wasn't even supposed to be split). Anyways, don't worry if you don't understand the hints because they'll be explained further in the story. The second part is mostly written – it's about 7500 words of Annabeth POV sequencing the battle – more fast-paced than this part, I swear. I'll finish it up sometime this week something. If anybody wants to beta it as well, that'd be dope because since I only write while intoxicated, I don't actually proof anything.

Cheers.

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><p><strong>Prologue II Preview:<strong>

_The Apollo cabin reacted first. They had been practicing archery along the lake edge, and thus were the closest to the action when it began. The air shimmered as the sky suddenly_ exploded_ with Apollo's magical arsenal – sonic, incendiary, and other arrows of all kind were unleashed at the enemy to devastating effect in a never-ending stream of rainbow color._

_What was left of the Hunter envoy joined them a second later._

_Ares's flying chariot flew overhead, pelting the enemy with Greek firebombs. Green fire rocked the world as monsters and men alike burned alive on the ground in the intense green flame,_ fusing_ together in a grotesque art display of body parts._

_The rest of the cabins soon followed. Dozens upon dozens upon dozens of demigods – many of which were barely able to get any armor on – came running from the cabins like a dysfunctional riot. They met Kronos's army with all the heroism a half-blood could ever ask for, in a whirlwind of bronze and a battle cry that would make even Ares jealous._

_Annabeth felt invigorated despite herself._

* * *

><p>Grammar Polish: 06 November 2014. Credit - Tinkling Shards.<p> 


	2. Prologue - II of II

**Disclaimer:** Take me, take me, take me, take me, take me, take me, thereeee thereeee aye.

**club goin' up on a tuesday: **Thanks for the love, pplz. Sorry I didn't get the chapta' out earlier – I ran out of drugs, I mean, er, inspiration. Word length is fucking ridiculous – it's like 10,000. I'll learn to condense sometime soon.

Also, sorry to that one guy who reviewed _and _PM'd me saying "katie is ooc you illiterate inbred" (made my day, by the way) – I'm new to the entire fanon thing, and didn't know there was a huge Tratie following going on, sry =(. I just needed a Demeter child for the weed theme and we only know two in canon – and Katie is easier to type than Miranda. Consider this a destruction of fanon Katie, like those people who always ruin fanon IceQueen!DG. Those guys are loser nerds who can't break through girls' cold exteriors, obvz.

I'd tell you to review, but I don't think anybody (author included) reads them anyways. So don't review. I'm serious – we're gonna set a record for highest fav to review ratio. =)

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><p><strong>Dawn<strong>

**-Prologue: Part II of II-**

"_This water knows it all… go ahead and spill some champagne in the water. Go ahead and watch the sun blaze on the waves."_

—_The Immortal Poet Jay-Z_

* * *

><p>"<em>Culture bands people together. This fact is indisputable. It gives common identity, beliefs, and values – it is man's mark on the world, the vestiges of humanity in a "desolate wasteland," to quote the traitor Percy Jackson himself. So it is truly an atrocity that the greatest war in history was the desire to obliterate the most influential of them all – the ones that proved to be the root for all others: Greek &amp; Roman."<em>

—Malcolm Clayton, Spawn of Athena and No. 4 on the Othrys Most Wanted List, in _Tyranny._

* * *

><p>Annabeth Chase could taste the fear in the air. But for the first time in forever, she felt <em>alive<em>.

The attack had come quickly. She had been in a counselor meeting, celebrating Beckendorf's successful attack on the _Andromeda_ earlier in the day – well, after enduring Silena shouting at Beckendorf for over half an hour for not telling her about his plan. He and his entourage had returned in several of the ship's lifeboats, each filled with enough weaponry and supplies to equip a small army. They had extracted two captured prisoners as well – two Hunters of Artemis – and if their intelligence was to be believed, had thwarted an upcoming attack on the camp.

Thalia and a small group of Hunters had arrived later that day to check on their sisters' wellbeing as well as assist in developing protective measures for the camp.

But then a moment had passed and there were screams and arrows whistling through the air, bodies hitting the ground. A second later, Peleus could be heard letting out an earsplitting roar of challenge.

Annabeth and the other counselors had run outside of the Big House to a terrifying sight. The entire top half of the hill was on fire. Peleus's invisibility charm had broken – he took flight, breathing jets of blue hellfire onto the _legions _of monsters that were assaulting the hill: Laistrygonians, _dracanae_, hellhounds, and more. The monsters that weren't being incinerated were running up to Thalia's tree. They seemed to struggle for a few seconds at the boundary line, but eventually each of them broke through the border into the camp.

A group of hooded figures – demigods – fanned out along the hill, each armed with a bow – loaded in each bow was an arrow that was some variant of a grappling hook. On a signal, they simultaneously fired it at Peleus. The dragon managed to dodge several of them, but a few still managed to lock on. The demigods pulled, and Peleus was suddenly _wrenched_ out of the sky. He smashed into the ground with a loud thump, smashing a group of monsters flat. Another group of attackers had made quick work of him. Peleus's final shrieks of agony were one of the most heartbreaking things Annabeth had ever heard.

Three of the Hunter patrol were already on the ground with arrows sprouting from their chest, surprised by the initial assault. The rest of them had reacted extremely quickly and were firing silver arrows into the bulk of the enemy so quickly it was as if they had a machine gun in their hands rather than a bow. When the enemy drew nearer, each Hunter had drawn their hunting knives – unflinching in the face of death – and took on an entire miniature army all by herself before being overwhelmed and forced to retreat.

Annabeth and the counselors sprinted back towards the cabins to arm themselves after seeing Peleus taken out with relative ease. Somebody was even blowing a conch horn, as if nobody knew what was going on. Behind them advanced Kronos's army. From the Big House, she could see the two extracted Hunters from the _Andromeda_. They had been recovering in the sickroom –now they were by its window laying suppressing fire with their never-ending array of arrows, allowing the counselors and what was left of the patrol to fall back and link up with the campers.

The enemy demigods regrouped and fired several arrows at the Hunters' outpost – the two girls were forced to take cover inside as several came close to hitting their mark. A flaming arrow soon followed, and suddenly the entire Big House was then set alight, green flames exploding from the windows like a candle.

The _screams_ that followed… Annabeth felt hatred well up in her throat.

The Hunters' sacrifice did not go to waste however – it bought the entire camp enough time to rally. Kronos's army no longer had the element of surprise.

The enemy combatants made it as far as the volleyball courts before they met the campers' resistance. Annabeth could tell by the way they moved that they had planned to make it at least twice as far.

The Apollo cabin reacted first. They had been practicing archery along the lake edge, and thus were the closest to the action when it began. The air shimmered as the sky suddenly _exploded _with Apollo's magical arsenal – sonic, incendiary, and other arrows of all kind were unleashed at the enemy to devastating effect in a never-ending stream of rainbow color.

What was left of the Hunter envoy joined them a second later.

Ares's flying chariot flew overhead, pelting the enemy with Greek firebombs. Green fire rocked the world as monsters and men alike burned alive on the ground in the intense green flame, _fusing_ together in a grotesque art display of body parts.

The rest of the cabins soon followed. Dozens upon dozens upon dozens of demigods – many of which were barely able to get any armor on – came running from the cabins like a dysfunctional riot. They met Kronos's army with all the heroism a half-blood could ever ask for, in a whirlwind of bronze and a battle cry that would make even Ares jealous.

Annabeth felt invigorated despite herself – she hadn't fought a real battle in over a month, ever since Chiron had confined her to camp for fear of her safety when Percy had gone missing during his quest. No one knew where he disappeared off to – gods had scoured the entire globe with no results. The only plausible explanation was capture from the Titans, except the Titan Army appeared to be just as clueless as they were. Percy's disappearance had hit Annabeth hard – she had cried, she had screamed, she had tried sneaking out of camp to find him. And when all that had failed, she had trained ferociously for the past month, just _imagining _for when she could find him and drive her dagger in the throat of anybody who got in her way. She had never given up hope – Nico had said Percy was still alive, and Nico was never wrong. She would find him, and this was the first step.

Annabeth was fit to _kill_ – she was in a rather vindictive mood. She drew her dagger and threw herself into the fray with a vicious snarl.

The world was flickering red and green fire, the ground was dust and black ash, and the people walking upon it were twisted demons. She moved from side to side in the _clusterfuck_, for lack of a better term, slashing at anything unrecognizable with a bronze promise of death. Annabeth _breathed _in the smoke and flame, the sweltering plume having stolen all the oxygen out of the air… that didn't faze her.

The campers weren't giving up an inch without a fight. They defended their home with a ridiculously loyal, almost _savage_ ferocity. Laistrygonians, dracanae, hellhounds alike were absolutely slaughtered as they had advanced on the enemy.

After an indeterminate amount of time, however – she had lost of it ages ago – Annabeth realized the futility of the situation. They were being steadily pushed back – the denizens of Camp Half-Blood had been forced across the river and were now in front of the cabins.

There wasn't any trick to it – for every fallen camper, ten monsters would be blown into ash. They were being overwhelmed due to numbers alone.

Giants _smashed _through any defensive formation the campers could muster up, the enemy demigods kept most of the campers' full attention, and the other monsters were out to the side, trying to attack their flanks.

She recognized the maneuver. They were trying to encircle the campers – and soon, they would complete their encirclement. Their only option was to use the stolen lifeboats and escape via the ocean. She had a feeling the _Andromeda_ had been just a few miles off the camp's coast to prevent an escape like this from happening. She shuddered to think what would have happened if it had been in play.

Annabeth looked around, trying to find another counselor.

A hooded demigod suddenly lunged at her, and she lifted her dagger to lock their blades in a loud metallic _clang_. She stepped forward and closed the distance between them, trying to take advantage of his longer blade, but he simply stepped to the side and broke the deadlock. The demigod pivoted on his foot, sweeping his sword down in a wide overhead arc – she raised her dagger to parry his blade again but his other foot came forward and kicked her in the chest in a clumsy front kick.

Annabeth gasped, the wind having been knocked out of her. The impact of the kick had knocked her back several feet, and it was only sheer reflex that allowed her to duck his next strike, a swipe with the flat of his blade towards her head.

_He's not trying to kill me,_ she noticed. _Why me…?_ The thought intrigued her, but she didn't ponder on it – she wouldn't show him the same mercy.

Blood pounded in her ears as she took advantage of the momentum of his missed swing – it carried his blade to the side, allowing Annabeth to step forward once again and thrust towards his midsection. The demigod brought his sword around and met her strike, just barely. She suddenly twisted, locking their blades together once again and disarming him using one of the first moves Percy had taught her.

_If only he could have seen this,_ she mused to herself.

The demigod's lack of a weapon didn't deter him, however. His foot came upwards in a perfectly executed roundhouse kick, again trying to force some distance between them. Annabeth neatly sidestepped outside of its reach, squared her dagger into a reverse grip, then slashed upwards at his chest. Off balance and still retracting his foot, he had no choice but to grab her knife arm, trying to bring it downwards to avoid being skewered.

His final mistake.

Annabeth twisted her arm, and her blade sliced straight through the demigod's wrist, severing his hand clean off. Before he even had time to scream, she smashed the handle of her dagger into the side of his head. He dropped like a sack of potatoes.

Annabeth smiled grimly. It would have scared somebody out of their wits had anybody seen it. On an impulse, she knelt down and removed his hood. Brown hair, a ski sloped nose… she vaguely recognized him as a former Ares camper.

She fought down the sorrow that rose within her. _So many turned…_

"Annabeth!"

She turned around and saw Michael Yew next to her. His face was smeared with blood and he was bleeding rather heavily from one shoulder. She imagined she didn't look any better. His quiver only had four arrows left, and his eyes were wild.

A mighty howl sounded, and her eyes snapped up. A hellhound leapt at Michael, but he grabbed an arrow, brought up his bow, and fired it into the monster's chest without even turning around. Upon impact, the arrow suddenly exploded in a flash of bronze and three smaller arrows emerged from its tip, each burying itself into another monster's chest.

Despite herself, Annabeth smiled at that ingenuity. But then she remembered where they were.

"They're circling us – the flanks can't hold for long," she said. "We have to go."

Michael knew Annabeth's mind well enough to know that when Annabeth said they had to go, they _had_ to go.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Clarisse's chariot get hit with a grappling hook. The chariot abruptly stopped in midair, and not unlike Peleus began to be pulled towards the ground. Clarisse and some of her cabinmates managed to jump out of falling ride – they hit the ground rolling, instantly engaging the enemy with everything from swords to their bare hands. The chariot wobbled one more time before it was finally pile driven into the ground, detonating upon impact – the unused firebombs had all blown at once, creating a scorching blast that seared her eyebrows and incinerated everything within a ten yard radius.

Michael watched in shock as the chariot exploded. She almost saw the last vestiges of hope leave him. "We're not going to win this war, are we?" he asked bitterly.

"We _will_," said Annabeth, trying to placate her friend. "But not from here. We've already partly won – what they lost wasn't worth it to take over the camp because of what the Hunters did for us. And it'll be even less so for them if we can escape."

Michael didn't seem convinced.

"Give me a reason to go on," he whispered to himself, staring at the horror and desolation, the _fires_ everywhere. The dejection in his voice shook Annabeth to the core.

Annabeth looked him straight in the eye. "For the ones who sacrificed themselves for us," she intoned with force. "Don't let it go to waste."

Michael sighed. He looked completely and utterly defeated. Then he raised his bow into the sky, and he fired an arrow.

It detonated in the air, magnesium powder creating a blinding white light in the sky. All the campers knew what it meant. The signal to retreat.

* * *

><p>Annabeth ran, signaling to Beckendorf. He understood – they'd gone over escape plans multiple times in anticipation for something like this.<p>

Michael shouted something, and the entire Apollo cabin – what was left of them, anyways – suddenly fired an arrow into the ground directly in front of the enemy combatants. Beckendorf then twisted something on his wristwatch, and immediately a wall of Greek fire exploded between the two belligerents, linked by the arrows. Kronos's army yelped in surprise, and several arrows incinerated in the flame as the enemy tried launching them through.

They wouldn't be able to get past the blaze for a long time.

"Get to the beach!" Annabeth heard Beckendorf, and the campers _booked _it, sprinting towards the sea – about a quarter of a mile away – as best they could with all their gear. They ripped through the forest, burnt leaves and shrubs crunching under their feet, and broke through the clearing onto the beach, where the Aphrodite cabin had already prepped the lifeboats for departure in a tiny makeshift harbor.

It would have looked rather quaint – with the sun setting behind it and everything – if hadn't been on fire like everything else.

Beckendorf and Annabeth were the senior campers with Chiron gone, so they were the acting leaders. "Everybody listen up!" shouted Annabeth. The congregated campers fell silent.

She did a quick roll call in her head. There were over forty campers missing…

"Okay," she decided, attempting to sound strong for her peers. "Hephaestus cabin drives the lifeboats. Other than that, one cabin per boat. Counselors, in the yacht. We're going south we find a safe harbor to land in."

"We have to stay at sea, we're not safe on land," Beckendorf explained. "Poseidon will protect us from the old sea gods – and these lifeboats were stolen from the _Andromeda_. They're magically modified, and they'd probably be able to get all the way down to Cuba in a day or two. Every lifeboat is stocked with a week's worth of food and weaponry as well."

"From wherever we stop," continued Annabeth, "we'll switch transport, and then we're going to the Panama Canal. We're going to San Francisco."

"The home of the Titans," somebody said. "Are you crazy?"

Others muttered as well, agreeing with his statement. Even Beckendorf looked slightly doubtful.

"No," she replied. "There's more there than just Mount Othrys. There's been signs of demigod activity there for months – we think that there's another resistance force there and we're going to find it."

She didn't know how right she was.

"And Olympus?" someone else asked.

Everybody hushed at that. "I don't know," Annabeth answered honestly.

"We don't have time to argue," she continued. "Get on your boats, and if you have a problem with it, we'll discuss it when we land. Good luck everybody, and stay _together._ Everybody should be out of the harbor in two minutes. We'll find a way to protect Olympus, but for now the enemy won't be attacking Olympus for a _long_ time. This was a pyrrhic victory for them, they'll need time to recover."

"Once again, good luck. We'll get through this." She ended it with a tone of finality.

Annabeth signaled to the counselors, and together they boarded the luxury yacht that the Hephaestus cabin had built for their summer project.

She turned around, taking one last look at the camp. She felt a deep pang of sorrow and regret for not being able to protect her home, her family. Everything was on _fire_ – deep green and scarlet red flame devoured the buildings and the trees. The canoe lake and ground both ran red with blood. The sky – which had been completely clear and a deep shade of orange less than thirty minute ago – was now almost completely gray. She tasted the smoke and ash, and the entire place looked like a wasteland.

_A desolate world, a wasteland, us…_

Percy had said that to her once. She couldn't remember the context, but it seemed plenty applicable here.

The only things still standing were the cabins – they were tied directly to the Olympians' seat of power, so they wouldn't be able to be destroyed unless Olympus was. And after today, nobody would be able to enter the cabins without the express permission of the representative god, either. That was slightly reassuring – the items in the cabin could be of eternal use to the Kronos's men. They'd never be able to get their hands on anything of value.

Thalia walked up next to her - Annabeth hadn't even noticed her board. Thalia didn't say anything, just gave her a one-armed embrace. "It'll be okay," Thalia said, voice choked with emotion. _She lost nine Hunters today…_

Annabeth didn't reply, just leaned into the body of her oldest friend. She closed her eyes. She was _tired_… despite the fact that it was essentially a victory for the camp, she didn't feel the least bit victorious.

"Annabeth," Beckendorf said, walking up to her.

Annabeth looked at him, signaling for him to continue – instead he indicated Thalia with a questioning glance.

"Whatever you say can be said in front of her."

That seemed to be good enough for him. "We can take back the camp."

"_What _did you say_?"_ Thalia interjected suddenly.

"Well, not today," he said regretfully. "But there's a tunneling system Hephaestus has been building for centuries under Cabin Nine. A lot of the passages go right under the border and into the city – we used to use it to sneak out for food all the time. I know, I know," he said holding up a hand, assuming she was going to chastise him for his disregard for authority, "but we can use it to get back in."

"You're really thinking of disciplinary actions after _this_?" Annabeth laughed, delighted. Or as delighted as she could be after forty of her friends had just died. "That's the greatest thing we've heard all night. This is good."

She noticed the other counselors walking up to them, and immediately sobered up.

"This stays between us," Beckendorf said quietly, indicating her and Thalia. "The protections didn't just fall – somebody betrayed us. And until we find out who it was, we need to keep things quiet."

Annabeth and Thalia nodded. They had deduced that on their own, anyways.

Annabeth hated thinking like this – she looked over at the other counselors, each battered and bruised and exhausted, and it hurt her to think anybody would ever betray them. _Clarisse, Michael, Kat—Miranda, Pollux, the Stolls, Silena… wait, where was Silena?_

"Wait," she said to the counselors. "Where's Silena?"

Beckendorf paled. He probably felt guilty for not having thought of that before she did. The other counselors just seemed to notice as well.

"Aphrodite was in charge of prepping the boats," Michael said, slinging his bow over his shoulder. "Where could she have gone…?"

All of the lifeboats were already long departed. The Greek fire wall had died down, and the enemy was starting to approach.

"Contact west," Clarisse said rather unnecessarily.

"We have to go," Miranda said. "Maybe she's on another boat."

"We're waiting." Beckendorf grit his teeth. He looked on the verge of a panic attack. "We're going to wait until Kronos's army is at our fucking doorstep."

"But—"

"No buts," he said. "We're waiting."

He looked around at the assorted counselors, just _daring_ them to challenge him. No one was stupid enough to do so.

And so they waited. They watched the enemy tread carefully through the forest, looking for any strays. They were being watered down by multiple booby traps – trip wires, mines, and arrow-launched-from-wall-stuff all hampered their approach to the beach.

And after a few moments, they saw her – Silena burst out of the forest running towards them. She was half-carrying, half-dragging a bloodied girl with dark hair towards them.

"Thank the gods," Beckendorf and Clarisse said in relief.

"She's not going to make it fast enough!" Connor Stoll shouted in alarm.

He was right. Enemy forces were gaining on her – soon she'd be within range of their archers.

Beckendorf growled and he tightened his grip on his sword. He looked like he would have jumped off the boat to help if Clarisse wasn't holding him back.

"Come on, Silena_, come on,"_ Annabeth muttered under her breath.

Michael and Thalia drew their bows in anticipation.

Silena was definitely in range of their archers at this point. But for whatever reason, they didn't fire. They seemed perfectly content to let Silena finish running across the beach.

If Annabeth had been in the right state of mind, the alarms in her head would have gone off fifty times over.

Michael and Pollux met her at the entry ramp. They took the girl from Silena and hauled her up the steps. Silena collapsed on the deck, gasping for breath. Michael immediately went scouring the deck for a first aid kit.

"Go, go, go!" Annabeth screamed to Beckendorf once everybody was on board. He immediately hit a button on the dashboard, and the boat's engine rumbled in anticipation.

"Hold on!" he shouted. The boat then _rocketed_ away at a fearsome speed from the harbor, Greek fire spurting from the boat's rudder like some sort of fictitious racecar. If there hadn't been a magical force dampener on the boat, the acceleration alone would have tossed all of the counselors into the ocean – even still, all of them were unceremoniously thrown onto the floor. Annabeth looked back. They were already hundreds of yards away from the coastline – the sand on the beach had been fused completely to glass, and they left a trail of sparkling green fire in their wake.

Annabeth stood up and looked at Silena, who unsurprisingly was already in Beckendorf's arms. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she breathed, panting. "But you should be asking her that." She indicated the girl.

Michael had retrieved his first aid kit and was now looming over the girl. "_Di immortales_," he whispered. It looked like he didn't even know where to start; she was covered in so much blood. Her arm was bent at an unnatural angle, and a large gash was bleeding profusely from her leg. He fumbled with the kit by his side, looking for some ambrosia.

Annabeth didn't recognize the girl. But she felt like she had seen her from somewhere before…

She was tall – her hair was a dark shade of brown tied back into a ponytail that went over her shoulder. Her eyes were dark, incredibly so. They were filled with something she couldn't identify – pain, loathing? Maybe both.

And then she noticed the weapon hanging from the girl's waist. It was a sword, but it wasn't like anything she had ever seen before. Its blade was short, slightly curved, and seemed to be made out of solid gold. The only thing it had in comparison with the other swords she had seen was the fact that it was a sword. Her armor was of a completely non-Greek style as well – it was much lighter, providing for faster movement at the sacrifice of some defense.

Annabeth beckoned to Silena and the other counselors and they formed a tight huddle, giving Michael some room to work with the girl.

"Who _is_ she?" Annabeth asked Silena.

"I don't know – I heard her cry for help in the forest. I couldn't just leave her. It's not like she can cause us any harm anyways, in that condition."

"How did she even get to the forest?"

"Does it matter?" Beckendorf said. "You did the right thing, Sil—"

A loud gurgle caught the counselors' attention. Upon turning around, they saw Michael Yew on the ground, one of his own arrows protruding from his stomach. He moaned pitifully from the floor.

"—ena," he finished lamely.

* * *

><p>All the counselors instinctively drew their weapons and instantly spread out across the deck, surrounding the unknown girl who Michael had been treating. <em>Not harmful indeed, Silena…<em> Annabeth thought.

Annabeth internally berated herself for missing all the signs: the lack of effort from Kronos's army to slow their escape, how the girl was even _alive_ with those wounds, her strange weapon and armor…

Said girl straightened up slowly. All traces of the wounds and blood she had been covered from head to toe in previously had completely vanished from her body – _an illusion_? – allowing them a better look at her. She radiated an aura of aristocracy and elegance, carrying herself with sheer confidence. Her face was regal and its features were schooled into a condescending smile as welcoming as a grave. Annabeth noticed a tattoo on her left forearm – a crossed sword and torch, with three thick stripes all under the letters SPQR.

"_The Senate and People of Rome,_" she translated in her mind. _What in Hades…?_

Annabeth had only seen one person like this before: Katie Gardner. Katie and the girl were obviously cut from the same cloth. That thought alone made her shiver in trepidation – they _all _knew what happened with Katie Gardner.

In her hands was Michael's bow. An arrow was nocked, but she hadn't even aimed it – the bow was pointing at the ground. She seemed completely at ease. And she was looking straight at Annabeth.

"Annabeth Chase," the girl said slowly, as if testing out the name. Her voice was smooth and silk with a slight Spanish accent to it. It seemed composed, but Annabeth could feel the loathing roll off her tongue in waves. "I've been waiting a long time to see you again."

Annabeth's hand tightened on her dagger, and she signaled for the other counselors to close in.

"I don't believe I've had the pleasure," Annabeth said, in a tight tone of forced civility. She glanced once again at the tattoo on her arm – there was something about it that bothered her. It didn't feel right at all.

"Is that so, daughter of _Athena_?" She spat the last word out as if it were a curse. "I'd like to think that I would remember destroying the lives of dozens of people – for example, I certainly won't forget this day: the day I burned down the home of the _graecus._"

_Greek… what? _Annabeth thought_. _She felt completely out of control of the situation – she had yet to see all the pieces of the puzzle. It made her feel powerless and helpless, not knowing anything about the girl and who she was. It was her job to know – she was the daughter of the goddess of _knowledge_.

The other counselors were slowly converging on the girl's position. She glanced at them, uncaring.

"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage," Annabeth said, continuing the charade of formality. "I've done something to you before?"

"You are quite perceptive," the girl quipped dryly, "despite your appearance pointing to the contrary."

_Did she just make a blonde joke…?_ Annabeth grumbled internally.

"Who _are_ you?" she asked, almost fearfully.

"I am the one," the girl seemed to think about it, "who will right the wrongs, let us say."

"How poetic," Annabeth said. "Not a person of Rome?" She indicated the tattoo, and the girl rubbed it slightly. She then noticed a ring on the girl's hand as well – another crossed sword and torch. If she had to guess, it would be the girl's parent – but Annabeth had never seen a symbol like that before.

The girl inclined her head slightly and opened her mouth to speak, but Clarisse interrupted.

"Bitch," she said. The look on her face was pure murder, and the spear in her hand crackled with electricity. "Enough games. You're surrounded – so I'd _really_ drop the weapon if I were you. And maybe we'll feel merciful enough to give you a quick death."

Tactless and blunt, that was Clarisse.

The girl tilted her head to the side, as if considering Clarisse's words. "Probability… is just a number, daughter of _Ares_." Once again, she emphasized the god's name with disdain.

The girl unnerved Annabeth terribly. But Clarisse was right; she was done playing games – she nodded to Thalia.

In one smooth motion, Thalia's bow had materialized in her hand and an arrow had rushed towards the girl, crossing the ten feet between them faster than the eye could follow.

It should have embedded itself into her chest and the force should have thrown her off the boat and into the cold Atlantic Ocean.

Instead, an invisible force seemed to act on the arrow, curving its flight path away from the girl. It flew harmlessly past her head, whistling her hair slightly.

"_Magic…_" breathed Annabeth. Thalia looked shocked – after all, it did take an extraordinary amount of willpower to divert an arrow of the Hunt.

The girl smiled coldly. It was truly frightening. "Indeed. Energy at its most arcane – and it's because of you that I know it, Chase."

She didn't give Annabeth any time to dwell over that statement. The other counselors closed in.

The girl moved with extraordinary speed, bringing up Michael's bow and returning fire at Thalia. Thalia lurched out of the way, but the arrow snapped Thalia's bowstring and smashed into the boat's control panel, detonating upon impact – it was one of Apollo's incendiary arrows. All the boat's systems immediately went down, and the engine spluttered helplessly before failing.

The yacht slowed suddenly, and the sudden deceleration threw Annabeth off balance. Several other counselors were thrown back onto the floor, stopping their rush.

The girl dropped Michael's bow, drew her golden sword, and did that natural thing when outnumbered seven to one – she charged.

Thalia moved to intercept her, her broken bow transforming into two hunting knives in a bright silver glow.

Thalia's knives both went downwards in an overhead cleave; the girl lunged upward. Their weapons – moon silver and pure gold – clashed in a flurry of sparks and a resounding clang loud enough to reach the heavens. The girl pushed Thalia's blades back, and she was forced to take a step back as the girl took advantage of her momentum with a stabbing motion that would have gutted Thalia like a fish had she not twisted to the side. Their blades met again and again in a vicious and deadly dance.

The other counselors picked themselves up from the floor. On Annabeth's signal, the Stoll brothers ran to the ruined dashboard, fiddling with the radio in an attempt to contact the lifeboats about the situation. Miranda and Pollux moved in on the girl, trying to relieve the pressure on Thalia.

Annabeth, Clarisse, and Beckendorf tried to follow, but somebody suddenly blocked their path.

* * *

><p>"Charlie, Clarisse, Annabeth," Silena greeted. The three people at camp closest to her – her boyfriend, her best friend, and her mentor, respectively.<p>

"I really wouldn't challenge her if I were you," she finished.

"What are you talking about?" Beckendorf asked. He was looking at his girlfriend in confusion.

Silena smiled sadly – she didn't even have a weapon in her hand. She rubbed her wrist; when she removed her hand, a scythe charm could be seen against her tanned skin.

_Silena…_ why hadn't she noticed it?

Beckendorf and Clarisse looked completely crushed to have been betrayed by someone so close to them.

"Silena," said Beckendorf in horror. His face was pale. "It was _you_?"

"I didn't want to do it in the beginning," she murmured. She was looking at the crimson-stained deck of the boat, as if ashamed to look at him. "But after a while – I understood. All Kronos wants is a world free from the gods' tyranny – and is that a bad thing? No unclaimed children, freedom from oppression – everything we _stand_ for that we have never been given by the gods!"

"Join us," Silena pleaded. She looked up and met each of their eyes with her blue ones. "Please – don't make me do this."

Annabeth looked at her. Silena was sincere, her tone was fervent. She truly believed in her cause, in her words – her argument seemed so _compelling _as well…

Beckendorf took a step forward, his resolve faltering. She could see it in his eyes – he was going to do it.

"_Please,_" Silena said one final time.

This time Annabeth could feel it, the power laced in her voice. _Charmspeak_…

She shook her head to clear it, and grabbed Beckendorf's arm to stop him. "Don't," she said. "She's magicking you."

"I-I," Beckendorf stuttered. He blinked hard. "I don't know who you are anymore, Silena…" He sounded heartbroken.

"I don't have time for this." Clarisse snarled. Her blind anger had burned straight through any influence the charmspeak had on her mind. Her hand had such a tight grip on her spear that it was turning white. "_Fuck_ you, Silena."

Silena's face hardened. "I thought you three of all people would understand."

"Oh, I understand," Clarisse said. "I understand that I'm going to _kill_ you for what you've done to us, you fucking whore."

Eloquent as well, that was Clarisse. It looked odd, seeing all that raw emotion on such a tough girl's face.

Silena sighed, but her face remained impassive. She really looked as if she didn't want to fight the. "Bring the bitch on, then," she said halfheartedly. They were words that would have shined with bravado, had she put any resolve behind them.

She still didn't have a weapon in her hand.

Clarisse raised her spear and Annabeth lifted her dagger, but Beckendorf couldn't bring himself to lift a weapon against his – girlfriend? Ex-girlfriend? He just stood there with the same broken expression on his face, unmoving.

Clarisse charged the petite Aphrodite girl, intending to run her through right where she stood.

Silena twisted her bracelet, and immediately a concussive wave of force expanded outward. Annabeth and Clarisse were relatively unaffected – they had been in combat stances with their center of gravity low to the ground, but Beckendorf and the Stoll brothers weren't prepared for any sort of blunt impact. The Stolls were slammed against the dashboard they had been trying to fix and both fell to the ground, unconscious. Beckendorf was blasted straight off the yacht, flipping over the guard rail and going overboard into the water.

Clarisse had reached Silena. She thrust at her head with her spear, but the Aphrodite girl wasn't there.

Clarisse had forgotten one thing – she assumed that because Silena was a daughter of Aphrodite, she wouldn't be adept at combat. But considering she was one of Kronos's highest-ranked double agents, Annabeth knew better.

Silena had spun towards the ground under Clarisse's strike, sweeping her leg around trying to connect with Clarisse's heels to kick her feet out from under her. She was smart enough to avoid touching Clarisse's electric spear, it seemed. Clarisse jumped over it and twisted her body to face her target, all while slashing downwards with her spear trying to force Silena to take a step back. However, Silena had already stepped inside Clarisse's guard and delivered a brutal head-butt to the taller girl's chin.

The entire exchange had happened in less than a second, not giving Annabeth any time to assist Clarisse. Clarisse stumbled back, eyes narrowed. At this point, Silena twisted her charm again – it expanded horizontally and detached itself from her wrist. When she caught it, she was holding a wicked double-edged sword, half steel and half bronze.

"Like Luke's," Clarisse whispered in an almost reverent tone.

Silena didn't bother to reply. She pointed the tip at them – arguably the two best fighters at camp – in a silent challenge.

Annabeth and Clarisse stepped towards Silena, each on a different side of the Aphrodite girl. Clarisse was much more wary now, having realized Silena's aptitude at combat.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Thalia and the dark-haired girl still attacking each other ferociously. Despite her dual wielding, Thalia was still forced on the defensive. The girl's fighting style was completely unorthodox: compared to Thalia, who slashed and chopped at her like a whirlwind, the girl was much more methodical – she seemed to carve the air as she moved deftly from side to side with frequent stabs that Thalia could barely defend against.

Miranda and Pollux were on the ground, long out of the fight – the former knocked unconscious and the latter with a stab wound in the chest. How the girl had even time to focus on them when Thalia, arguably the deadliest Hunter in six centuries, was directly opposing her, Annabeth did not know.

Annabeth struck first in an upward swing. The Aphrodite girl parried easily and stepped to the side, avoiding Clarisse's spear as it whistled past her ear. Silena twisted again, breaking their locked blades – she continuously forced Annabeth to pivot with her footwork, keeping her directly in front of Clarisse so the Ares girl couldn't utilize her spear's longer reach without gutting Annabeth. The two rotated around Annabeth like two planets orbiting around a center of mass.

That gave her an idea.

She only could have imagined what Percy would have said: _only you would think of physics at a time like this…_

Annabeth feinted to Silena's right and when she moved to meet her, ducked out of the way and swiped downwards at her unprotected left. At the same time, Clarisse took advantage of the opening and thrust forward with her spear.

Silena had expected it though, which proved to be their undoing. She parried Annabeth's strike while stepping directly in front of her – this caused Annabeth to overstep and she slammed directly into Silena in a lethal deadlock. Annabeth's forward momentum caused them to spiral backwards and off to the side, out of the way of Clarisse's lunge.

Silena's back hit the guard rail of the boat, and she used it as leverage to stop her backwards momentum before Annabeth could push her over it and off the yacht. Their faces were inches apart – Annabeth could even smell the girl's perfume: Chanel's _No. 5, _almost one hundred dollars per bottle. She had taste, if anything.

Upon realizing that Silena had grounded their forward motion, Annabeth thus tried to take advantage of their close proximity and disarm her using the same method she had used earlier – twisting their blades bringing all her weight down on Silena's blade, trying to force it out of her hand. However, Silena simply dropped her sword when Annabeth began her maneuver.

She stumbled forward, off-balance from the now uneven distribution of her weight. Her hands now free, Silena grabbed Annabeth's hand with her own and twisted viciously, hyper-extending her wrist in a supinating wrist lock. Annabeth hissed in pain, reflexively bending over and dropping her dagger straight into Silena's hand in an attempt to relieve the intense pressure. Annabeth fired a badly aimed punch at Silena's head with her free hand which sailed wide – Silena responded stepping behind her and pushing Annabeth forward, directly into the guard rail.

Due to her bent-over posture, her head was blasted right into the rail – Annabeth involuntarily bit her tongue, nearly cutting the damn thing off. She fell back, dazed and in pain. The coppery taste of blood filled her mouth, nearly making her vomit. Silena then grabbed her unresisting body and pushed her back – straight into Clarisse, who had been rushing from behind.

Annabeth blew back into Clarisse, the impact knocking them both backwards. Silena threw Annabeth's dagger – Annabeth was still reeling from the head blow and was already falling to the floor in pain, not even realizing the dagger's flight path. However, Clarisse's vision had been obscured by the aforementioned girl and she couldn't react fast enough. The knife embedded itself in Clarisse's shoulder and the girl cried out in agony, falling to the floor. Her spear dropped from her hand and rolled off the deck into the cold ocean below.

Silena kicked her sword back into her hand using the same method as one would lift a soccer ball. She glanced uncaringly at the weaponless Annabeth who was almost in the fetal position, spitting out blood and clutching her head in pain, and instead looked at Clarisse, whose wound was much more pressing.

"Clarisse," Silena began. She actually looked genuinely apologetic.

"_Fuck _you," Clarisse said through gritted teeth. Her eyes were glazed over in pain and she looked like she was about to pass out, but she still remained defiant until the very end.

Silena stepped forward, concern on her face. Annabeth, head still spinning, found the strength to stand up and put herself between them. "Get the _fuck _away from her!" she snarled contemptuously.

Silena ignored her – after all, she was teetering from side to side and hardly looked threatening –and pulled a vial out of her pocket. Annabeth eyed it dubiously. It was filled with golden liquid – is_ that… nectar? _she thought. That stopped her in her tracks. "W-What are you doing?" she stuttered out, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"What does it look like?" Silena asked, walking up to Clarisse and casually shoving Annabeth out of the way – the Athena girl was so off-balance she fell directly back onto the floor. Clarisse spat in her face, but that didn't deter Silena – she uncorked the vial and poured some of the nectar on her wound while simultaneously ripping Annabeth's dagger out of her shoulder, eliciting a scream of pain from Clarisse.

The sight was so peculiar that Annabeth didn't even think to stop her. She almost laughed. Here, in the middle of the war, Silena – a spy, the most despicable kind of enemy – was offering them an act of kindness, of _mercy_. Something that she had never granted anybody, or anybody had granted her.

Clarisse sighed in relief as the nectar worked its magic, stitching the deep gash and numbing the severe pain in her shoulder.

"For the record, Clarisse, I never wanted to hurt you," Silena said, voice soft red velvet. "Any of you. And I'm sorry it has to end this way – but it always does."

She lifted her sword. Annabeth, finally finding her voice cried "_Wait!_",but instead of killing her like she thought she would, Silena simply swung the flat of her sword into the side of Clarisse's head, knocking her out.

"You thought I'd kill her?" Silena asked rhetorically. "I _just_ fixed her."

Silena turned to Annabeth and gave her a sad smile – said girl took a said back. Annabeth gave the edge of the boat a slight glance – it was only ten or so feet away, if she moved quickly—

"I wouldn't try it if I were you," Silena said, correctly interpreting Annabeth's thought to abandon ship. "I'd stop you before you even got halfway."

Annabeth believed her. _There goes that option,_ she thought bitterly.

"What are you going to do with me?" Annabeth asked, tone full of bravery and defiance. Or would have been, had she not had a slight hitch in her voice – she cursed herself mentally. She tried not to think of all the options: torture, death, more torture, more death…

"Stop," Silena said wearily. "I don't want to kill you. Contrary to what you might think, I consider all of you to be my friends."

"You've got a funny way of showing it," Annabeth retorted.

"Hilarious, even – by trying to make the world a better place. We're _liberating _you. All we want is to be _free_, not the gods'—" she seemed to be struggling for an appropriate word, "—the gods' expendable fucking _resources_," she finally spat.

Spittle flew from her mouth and hit Annabeth in the face. "You're delusional if you actually believe that. The Titans want to _enslave _mor—"

Here Silena held up a hand. "I'm not going to argue with you." She stepped over to a part of the deck that wasn't stained crimson with blood and gingerly sat down atop it. "Sit."

It wasn't an order. Annabeth wasn't in a mood to play the game of formalities – it really didn't mean shit, after all. But it wasn't as if she had a choice in the matter – she had no doubts even from her sitting position, Silena could still take her down without even blinking if she tried anything.

"I'm _waiting_," Silena said impatiently.

Annabeth sat down next to Silena, eyeing the Backbiter Mk. II in her hand warily. "What are we doing? In case you haven't noticed, you broke our engines so we're _stranded_."

She tried to sound indignant, but it just projected as a tone of insolence. Annabeth winced internally at how stupid she sounded.

"We'll wait for our friends over here to finish up," Silena said, ignoring her attitude while indicating Thalia and the mystery girl. It was obvious that the girl had the advantage, although Thalia still wasn't giving up yet despite steadily being pushed back towards the edge of the yacht.

"After that," she continued, "we will exeunt, and you can do whatever you want."

That was fine with Annabeth. Despite being stranded in the middle of the ocean with limited supplies, the other lifeboats would soon come – she had no doubt that they already would be. To keep Silena from becoming suspicious, however, she schooled her features into a horrified expression.

"You're _sick_," Annabeth said through gritted teeth, even impressing herself with her acting.

"We're giving you a chance to live," Silena retorted without missing a beat. That's more than what you'd ever give us – I really wouldn't be talking."

A guilty part of Annabeth realized that that was actually true. She crushed that thought, however.

"The enemy doesn't deserve mercy," Annabeth said. She knew she wasn't exactly arguing for her life here, but her hubris and her Athenian heritage obligated her to do it. "You spare them and they… they—" she struggled to find an appropriate phrase.

"Bite you in the ass?" Silena suggested.

"Yes."

"Textbook response, Annabeth," Silena replied, glancing at the daughter of Athena with a disapproving expression on her face. "War philosophy isn't applicable to us – we're a completely different cut. It's a shame when we have the moral high ground in this war…"

"Just because it's textbook doesn't mean it's not true," Annabeth said.

"Will you bite me in the ass, Annabeth?"

They stared at each other for several long moments before Annabeth finally looked away, unable to look into the dark pupils of sapphire any longer. _Morals…_

Upon realizing Annabeth wasn't going to respond, Silena finally said, "Katie wanted to kill all of you, you know—" Annabeth's breath caught in her throat, "—said some of the same bullshit. For your sake, Annabeth, I hope you two aren't right."

* * *

><p>A loud clang drew their attention – one of Thalia's knives had been knocked out of her hand. It skidded on the floor and less than two feet from Annabeth. Before she could even think about picking it up, however, Silena brought her sword around to rest on Annabeth's throat, but keeping her arm non-extended so Annabeth couldn't easily attack an exposed, proffered limb. <em>Smart girl<em>, she approved grudgingly.

"Please don't," Silena requested courteously, previous conversation already forgotten. "The fun's only beginning. Don't interrupt them."

Thalia looked exhausted – there were numerous lacerations on her body and she was heavily favoring her left side, but she held the remaining knife in front of her with both hands like a longsword. The dark-haired girl had her golden sword off to the side and was looking at Thalia with something akin to respect.

"What is your name, Huntress?" she asked suddenly. "Your fortitude is commendable, respectable even. And I would never want to forget such a _courageous_ foe."

Thalia looked at the girl as if she was crazy – she probably thought that the girl was going to tattoo Thalia's name onto her chest as a trophy or something.

Thalia looked over to Annabeth slightly, and her eyes narrowed at seeing Silena's sword at her throat. Annabeth mouthed "_distract them_." Or tried to, at least, with Silena watching her every move and with a sword at her throat. But Thalia got the message.

"Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine?" Thalia said, prolonging the conversation. She was panting in exertion.

The girl inclined her head slightly. "My name is _Reyna_," she said, rolling over the 'r' sound slightly. "Tonight, however, it might be more fitting to call me your executioner."

"Gods, you sound like a fucking twat," Thalia muttered.

Annabeth's lips twitched. Silena almost _giggled_ like a schoolgirl. The girl – Reyna, apparently – just raised an eyebrow, face as hard as iron.

"If only your ability in combat was as strong as your sense of gall," she mused mockingly. "But I digress – your _name,_ Huntress."

Thalia hesitated before answering. "Thalia," she finally said.

Reyna's eyes widened in recognition. Her face darkened in anger for the briefest of moments, before suddenly lighting up in a mirthless smile. "Thalia… Thalia _Grace_, perhaps?"

Thalia's face morphed into one of shock – her surname was one of her most protected secrets. It took Annabeth two years of knowing her before she found out. "H-how do you know that?"

Reyna's grin was completely unnerving, almost Cheshire in appearance. Her dark eyes bored into Thalia's – Reyna then took a step towards her, who instinctively took a step back in response.

"Your brother's alive, you know," Reyna said.

"_What?_" Annabeth wanted to say something as well, but she remembered Silena's warning to stay silent.

Annabeth didn't want to believe a single word Reyna said, but judging from Thalia's reaction there had to be some semblance of truth in the statement. Thalia had paled, eyes widened in shock and disbelief, and she lowered her knife in revelation just the tiniest amount – that's when Reyna acted. Two seconds later, Thalia's other knife span out of her hand and she hit the ground, groaning in pain.

"Yes, Jason is alive," Reyna said again, bending down to look Thalia in the eyes.

"How is he?" Thalia blurted out. Despite all the pain she was in, her face was glistened with tears and had a look of raw sorrow that Annabeth had never seen on her before. Reyna's sword resting lightly on her throat might as well not have even been there.

Even Reyna paused, as if she couldn't comprehend the nature of her intense emotion when the possibility of her looming death was very real. "He is well," she said slowly. "For now, at least."

"And is he on your side?" Thalia asked, fearing the answer.

Reyna smiled as if knowing something that they didn't know. Except she did know something they didn't know. "Of course not."

"And how do we know that you're not lying?" Annabeth's said, ignoring Silena's nails digging into her skin. It may have been suicidal considering Silena's warning, but she wasn't going to allow Reyna to manipulate Thalia's emotions any longer.

It was probably the wrong choice. Reyna suddenly pushed Thalia down – as if she was going to go anywhere – and stared at Annabeth. Silena suddenly retracted her blade from Annabeth's neck and stood up to watch Thalia. Two seconds later Annabeth found out why.

Reyna _stormed _over to Annabeth and grabbed her by the scruff of her shirt with her bare hands, yanking Annabeth to her. Annabeth was so surprised by the movement she didn't even think to fight back. They were inches apart – Annabeth could see Reyna's bared teeth and her eyes flashing murderously. She could feel her warm breath on her face.

"Now you ask me if I'm lying?" Reyna said hatefully, placing her sword on Annabeth's throat; small drops of blood appeared. "Because unlike the _graecus_, I believe in honor. It is beneath my dignity to lie to a _miscreant_ as pathetic as you are."

To prove her point, she dug her sword deeper into Annabeth's neck. Drops became a tiny river cascading down her neckline as Reyna pressed harder and harder. Thalia's protests were ignored.

"Reyna," Silena chided finally, cutting in. "We have orders."

"Maybe I should be a _graecus _tonight, then," Reyna shot back without missing a beat. "They _never _follow orders. You know that better than anybody, don't you, Chase?"

Annabeth had no qualms that the girl was being serious despite the joking nature of her statement – that much was clear. Reyna for some reason housed an undisguised, almost unstable hatred of both Annabeth and Thalia that seemed to be odd for her aristocratic manner.

"_Reyna_," Silena bit out, stronger this time. "Step away from her."

The charmspeak made Reyna hesitate slightly, but Annabeth didn't dare to move. One simple twitch of her hand would bring about a very dead Annabeth.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth whispered to Reyna, meeting the girl's dark eyes with her own. "Whatever I did to you, I'm sorry…"

She didn't know why she said it. But despite herself, Annabeth felt a slight sense of guilt tugging at her for whatever she had done to the girl to make her loath Annabeth this much – something to destroy her life? And Annabeth knew what it was like to have her world crumble around her.

There was a noticeable twitch in Reyna's eye and her face instantly cleared of all emotion. She didn't seem so sure of herself when she said, "The time for apologies is long gone, Chase."

Reyna seemed to have come to a decision. She violently shoved Annabeth away and beckoned to Silena. Together they walked to the edge of the deck, and Silena whistled. A peanut-buttered Pegasus appeared out of nowhere and landed gracefully on the crimson stained deck.

"Have no delusions about what is happening," Reyna said to them coldly, struggling to maintain a blank face as she boarded the Pegasus with Silena. "You two are the most _vile_ of scum and deserve the most painful of deaths. But somebody wants you alive – for now, at least. There are no doubts in my mind that you will somehow escape from this boat – so gods help you, the next time we meet, _graecus_, Jason Grace will be dead and I will help you join him in the Underworld."

The Pegasus took off, whinnying loudly and circling the boat once before hovering in midair. Reyna and Silena took one last look at the carnage-torn deck. Unconscious Stolls and Clarisse, an overboard Beckendorf, a dead Michael and Pollux, and a concussed Miranda. Thalia and Annabeth, both injured and too scared to speak, let alone retaliate. So much desolation from just two girls.

Silena waved at them, almost casually, with an inscrutable expression on her face.

Annabeth didn't know why she asked, but she did. Maybe it was because Reyna knew about Thalia's long lost brother, maybe it was instinct. "Percy!" she suddenly shouted at them. "Do you have Percy?"

At that, Silena and Reyna both shared a smile as if laughing at an inside joke.

"Annabeth," Silena said finally. "We have Percy as much as you do."

She didn't know why, but she felt Silena was telling the truth. Or at least part of it.

The two Kronos operatives flew off into the sunset. The sun was still hovering over the Atlantic Ocean, as if Apollo had slowed its motion enough to spectate the entire battle from his sun chariot. Now that it was over, it began continue its journey over the crystal blue waves.

It finally set over the horizon. There was a flash of green.

* * *

><p><strong>got 'yo girl in the cut and she choosey:<strong> For all the bravado in the PJO series, I don't think I've ever seen one demigod kill another (the only one that even seriously tried had a redemption arc, and Octavian doesn't count – he's a dumbass), so I added some moral strugglez. Teenagers are pussies, even in war. Anyways, end of prologue – was pretty convoluted tbh. I blame the drugs. It'll improve from here on out, pinky promise. What to expect in the future: constant switches between CHB and Jupiter in Percy/Reyna POV's, a la Xed Alpha and The Crimson Lord (simultaneous first & third, might be kind of jarring, but I can't think of better alternatives since I'm not a fan of short chapters in FF). Next chapter will detail the BotL, Percy meeting Katie, the beginning of Reyna's turn, some r0mance, and more. I'll tone down the retardedness and plotholes/confusion/badwritingbullshit as well. Got a beta so story should be p grounded and should make more sense now.

Won't update for a while; I only have one or two scenes done in the next chapter, one of which is below. Also have three exams next week, and still need to read BoO to get Reyna's characterization down. Are there any explanations/flashbacks for how she got on Circe's island or what happened after? If there are, I need them. If not, I'll make some up. Also, reminder not to review.

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><p><strong>Chapter 1 Preview:<strong>

_"—and you're the only non-shitty company this camp has. So, I need you to amuse me."_

_"Gee, glad you like me so much already. So amuse you, huh?" She nodded eagerly._

_"How?" I asked._

_"I dunno, a joke or something. Yeah, tell me a joke. If it's funny, I'll make it worth your while."_

_That sounded like it had more than one meaning. Hopefully it could be both of the ones I was thinking of._

_"Okay, so have you heard the one about Chaos, Artemis, and the betrayed son of Poseidon?"_

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><p>Publish Date: 08 Nov 2014.<br>Grammar Polish: -


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